Secreted resin my boy, secreted resin. They build it from their drool....and probably use a mixture of elements found around them in whatever environment they find themselves, rock, dirt.....bone. "Being dead means not having an opinion"

Secreted from DRONE aliens, which were never fully realized in Cameron's Aliens, but is in the script. They're smaller aliens whose purpose is a worker. In the script it even refers to them being seen by the marines, but the drones keep on working and don't even bother with the marines. That's up to the warrior aliens.

The alien from ALIEN has sometimes been described as a "scout". Checking out the surroundings before a queen is produced. I would suppose that it would have the capability to attack/defend and create a new hive if necessary. KevinThe Sarge's Site[url=http://ca.photos.yahoo.com/bc/ssgtburton/lst?.dir=/Sarge%27s+Pics&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//ca.photos.yahoo.com/]Sarge's Pics[/url]

"Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They've got really short hair and they always go for the throat."

Ok now you brought to mind something I've been thinking of for quite sometime, since 1991 to be exact

If the alien in alien3 knew a queen was going to coming, WHY does it kill the prisoners instead of capturing them and start to make a hive like in Alien?? This way the Queen will have many incubators for her new army od aliens or whatever you call it??

In the Original Alien, the creature had layed eggs in the chamber with Dallas and Brett, that's why they where cocooned.

The Alien does have the facilities for laying eggs (exterior female type reproductive organs) as was mentioned many years ago when the movie first came out, may even be in the book, it's been a very long time since I read it.

More than likely once the area is secured it will start a hive than produce a Queen when everything is ready.

Just noticed this in Gigers Alien about the cocoon."The Cocoon in the Alien story is a stage through which a victom of the alien passes before he himself becomes an egg"

so if any alien can produce eggs then what would be the purpose of the queen? i know it was said that they communicated thru telepathy before but as in alien 3 when they break out of the holding pen they actually argue before the others kill it. so i geuss the whole thing is just left to the imagination?

As I understand it- any alien can't just lay eggs. The alien in alien has cocooned brett and dalls, who are turning into eggs- I reason because there is no queen. I also reason that it would take the creature a lot of energy to create this special cocoon, since this is not the creature's primary purpose.

But at the end of the day- I'm sure none of this was actually thought about to such a degree- they'll leave it to imagination/expanded universe products.

I simply want to know how Jim Cameron saw the hive being created- the thing about the 'worker' aliens which supposedly left the merines alone sounds about right.

So- I'm imagining these worker aliens sitting there for weeks and weeks guzzling out nasty, resin-like saliva? Or, perhaps it comes out the er, other end?

The stuff seems to have a lot of texture and form- not how I'd imagine 'secreted resin' would form... Where does the artistic liscense of the film-makers meet the official 'canon' or back story intended?

I see a lot of people that try to rationalize together continuity errors in so many different franchises. It doesn't make sense with the whole Queen/hive idea because when James Cameron conceived/wrote the movie Aliens, there was no "science" of an Alien turning humans into eggs. It was removed from the original movie, thus this left the possibility for conceiving a Queen. If you go back and start adding these removed shots/ideas or analyzing ideas that were never shot or never made it into the final script (after all is said and done and the movies are released) it causes problems. Really you should just accept it as just that that, a problem/continuity error, rather than trying to explain it with strange ideas that make the continuity error even more unrealistic.

Now what we really have to wonder is how the new Aliens Vs Predator movie will affect our generalizations on the Alien and Predator... Edited by: [url=http://pub217.ezboard.com/bthealienslegacy.showUserPublicProfile?gid=alien1099>Alien1099[/url] at: 1/31/04 7:26 pm

The one single biggest issue I have with the franchise is that the bio-economic side of aliens survival is never really explain. If the colonist on LV-426 were all captured and used to cocoon and hatch the young -- what the heck are the adult aliens eating to get enough calories to survive ?? They also don't seem to need air as part of their metabolism, as when they are ejected into space -- they keep moving. So, are they cold blooded ? Wouldn't the acid freeze in space? What about the integrity of their body structure? They are so solidly built that they can use their skulls to ram steel doors. Yet in space where there is no air pressure, their bodies don't explode from internal pressure. How can they balance the pressure like that ?? The mind begs these bio-physical questions. Must be Hollywood magic I guess. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."Edited by: [url=http://pub217.ezboard.com/bthealienslegacy.showUserPublicProfile?gid=menatarms>MENATARMS[/url] at: 1/31/04 7:46 pm

The Aliens are a silicate based organism versus carbon based like humans. Their body chemistry is such that even though they have concentrated acid for blood, their own organs/tissues are able to neutralize the acidity unlike our tissue.

The resin used to create hives are secreted from their mouths, much like the way honey bees build their hives. Of course the other choice would be to have them secrete the resin through the other end, but I prefer to think of them this way.

The way any colony survives is by having the Queen lay eggs. When there is no Queen -- a regular soldier/worker alien develops into a Queen. Also, when there are no male aliens, a female alien develops into a male to ensure propagation.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."

At one point in my life when I was about 13 -- I had thought pocket protectors, and purple pants were cool.But then I was living with my chemistry PhD. uncle and my cousin who was a test tube baby by a Nobel Prize winner in Oakridge, Tennessee. "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother."

If we're talking expanded universe... in the Aliens Dark Horse Comics that came out right after Aliens and continued the story of Hicks, Newt and Ripley, they describe a lot of the hive behavior from a scientific/sociological/biological perspective. They also describe how new hives are formed and spread. Here's an excerpt that I'll (painfully) transcribe from my "Compleat Aliens" (appologies for any spelling mistakes).

Quote:

[b]Quote:Excerpts from the confidential paper "Theory of Alien Propagation" by Dr. Waidslaw Orona, civilian advisor to the Colonial Marine Corps.

Humans suffer from peciuliarly self-centered notions as to the nature of life. We assume out of hand that other lifeforms must somehow conform to our comfortable standards of logic and morality. This, of course, is absurd. Our human "morality" is a thin tissue of arbitrary principle, easily ignored when expedient. Why should we expect more from alien lifeforms than we expect from ourselves? As a matter of practical fact, much of what we know about the alien lifeform is conjecture. However, amidst the theory, there are two absolute facts: 1) They are not like us. 2) We will never truly understand them. Judging from the alien's dense exoskeleton, and remarkable adaptability, we must assume their homeworld to be a harsh, desolate environment. We know from the encounter on Acheron that the aliens have a Queen-based hierarchy. We also know they form hives to protect their young. At some point, perhaps cyclical, the hive's queen must sense the instinctive need to propagate new colonies, and lays eggs that will later hatch as queen-larvae. Given the alien's legendary "temperment," it's likely that these special breeding eggs are quickly removed from the queen's chamber and sheltered elsewhere. At the proper time, the drones provide host bodies for the fledgling queens. For many in the research community, this parasitical breeding process is the single most disturbing aspect of the entire alien phenomenon. Of course, for the aliens, it is completely natural - their equivalent of giving a bottle to a baby. The actual incubation period is relatively short, a matter of days or even hours. Birth is an ordeal of pain and violence. As the fledgling queens emerge, there may well be a battle for dominance. Imagine a species where the first conscious act of life is killing. Even so, I hesitate to imply any sort of "Darwinian" connotation to these struggles. Killing may merely be a way for the newborn queen to define its own reality. Soon, the queen would lead a contingent of drones away from the old hive. The drones are the queen's slaves, and there would be nothing more important than the construction of the new hive. If natural building material were unavailable, perhaps other - elements - would be substituted. Some of the drones themselves could be used for sacrifice. One would not describe this as cannabalism so much as a remarkably ruthless practicality. The nesting instinct is a powerful one. Early on, all effort would be concentrated on completing the hive. The aliens would not think in terms of sacrifice. The hive is all. To assume death has meaning to these creature is to deny their greatest power. All ecosystems exist in a delicate state of balance. This would be as true of the alien homeworld as our own. At home, the aliens would have any number of natural enemies. Some would live, some would die, and the alien herd would be kept in check. The bodies of the dead would be used to reinforce the walls of the hive. The cycle would continue. The ecosystem would survive.

The violent, uncontrollable alien infestations occured when the creatures were removed from their natural habitat.We can only guess how this might have happened. Perhaps it was millions of years ago. Perhaps only decades. The end result is all that matters. Somehow the aliens were transplanted to other worlds. The creatures would not be contained with the particulars of their environment. They would concern themselves only with circumstances. The natural predators were gone. The balance was gone. All that was left was prey. We humans believe our technology has made us invincible - that we've evolved beyond the simple notion of predator and prey. Certainly there was no reason for the crews of the Nostromo or the Sulaco, or the settlers of Acheron to believe otherwise. Man has never been comfortable in space. Even with our ships and atmosphere suits and weapons, we are intruders. A hostile environment - ample quarry - the aliens must have felt utterly at home.Humans have confused comfort with survival. For us mere existence isn't enough. We demand the accoutrements of life as well. The aliens make no such demands. They live in a very simple world. They live to kill. They live to breed. And finally, they survive.

[/b]The first 3 collections of the Aliens chronicals are amazing and tell the story as if Alien3 and Alien Ressurection never happened, and that Hicks, Newt, and Ripley had survived. Phenomenal story. Everyday I wish the producers at Fox had followed that formula instead. If you want to read more I highly recommend these books. Be aware that Dark Horse Comics had re-released the books in recent yearsbut changed the names of Hicks, Newt and Ripley to other characters, to Jive with the current timeline better. Other excellent reads are the comics that followed the first 3 chapters, though they had nothing to do with Hicks, Newt or Ripley, they too give really good insight into the xenomorph's nature.

Quote: If the colonist on LV-426 were all captured and used to cocoon and hatch the young -- what the heck are the adult aliens eating to get enough calories to survive ??

It could be that the aliens need very little, or do not need food at all. Remember we are still thinking like humans, that in order to survive we must have food, air, and water. That was pretty much the point of Alex's post. The aliens are so diverse, and so foreign (well... alien ) to us that we cannot understand how they are able to survive under such extreme conditions. They just do.

Consider this: When Kane found the facehugger that grabbed him, how long had it been in that dormant egg state? Years? Possibly decades? And it basically went from a hibernation-like state to a full running start within seconds! No food in it's belly- if it has a belly.

The alien from ALIEN grew to enormous proportions in a matter of hours, and had not eaten anything!

The point is that we must not think about such things as explainable, or as mistakes when there is a gap in continuity.

I think it also adds to the frightfulness of the species. They can survive without food, air, water. They do not need a natural environment (they adapt to anything). And their only instinct is to kill or find hosts to endure. They are relentless. Literally the perfect killing machine.

I will say that they kind of blew it by showing the 'Dog Alien' munching on the prisoners in A3. Makes you believe it does need food to survive, or that it enjoys tearing it victims to pieces. KevinThe Sarge's Site[url=http://ca.photos.yahoo.com/bc/ssgtburton/lst?.dir=/Sarge%27s+Pics&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//ca.photos.yahoo.com/]Sarge's Pics[/url]

"Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They've got really short hair and they always go for the throat."

I have all those Dark Horse Alien Comics and they're very good.IMHO Alien 3 and Resurrection never happened they were terrible.

It was my understanding that the Aliens can survive in almost any atmospheric condition and that they did have natural enemies on their homeworld which indeed keep their numbers in check.And that other creatures like the pilot of the Space jokey and the Predators would remove them from their homeworld for various reasons.

The pilot of the Space Jokey seems to me to be a scientist that was collecting specimens to bring back to his home world to study or maybe add the Alien to a sort of Zoo, until it met with Mishap and we know what happened to him.

As for the Predators they would actually collect Alien Drones ,Queens and Eggs and deposit them on certain planet and after the Aliens would establish themselves, the Predators would then Hunt them as a sort of Trial by Fire, young Predators would be dispatched on the planet and if they returned victorious and with trophies they would pass the trials on into manhood or whatever you call it.

There was also Aliens Tribe by Dark Hosre were they had Aliens drones from different Hives fighting each other ,I forget the specifics it 's been a long time since I've read them but I followed them more closely than the last 2 movie installments which I really didn't care for.

Aliens: Newts Tale Explains what happens to the Colonists before the Marines arrived and how Newt Survives.

And theres Aliens vs Predators by Dark Horse, were a Human actually saves the life a young Predator that's about to be killed by Aliens on his Trial by Fire and ends up befriending the Predator as they neutralize the Alien threat.

In typing this I've excited myself into digging out all my old Alien Comics to read them again.There's worse things out tonight than Vampires.

Funny thing: I recently bought Star Trek II on dvd, and watched it last night. I decided to go to Future Shop today and buy ST:The Motion Picture. The girl at the checkout asked me if I'm into Star Trek. Uh, yeah. Well she tells me her last name is Kirk, she has a brother named James T, and her first name is Kira!:shock:

Guess her parents were Star Trek nuts! Talk about needing a life!:lol:

I thought I had turned into my parents!:lol: KevinThe Sarge's Site[url=http://ca.photos.yahoo.com/bc/ssgtburton/lst?.dir=/Sarge%27s+Pics&.src=ph&.order=&.view=t&.done=http%3a//ca.photos.yahoo.com/]Sarge's Pics[/url]

"Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean. They've got really short hair and they always go for the throat."

Quote:The girl at the checkout asked me if I'm into Star Trek. Uh, yeah. Well she tells me her last name is Kirk, she has a brother named James T, and her first name is Kira!

That's just to damn funny Sarge...

As I type this I'm watching Alien Resurrection for like the quad millionth time. Talk about a geek huh?

Has anyone ever wondered how the alien can drool so much without running dry? I really think Alien 4 went a little overboard with the drool factor. I mean really, these aliens must drool in excess of a gallon every 10min.. In a few scenes the drool is so heavy it looks like a water facet was turned on.

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum